I am back, sorry it took me awhile. I have been busy and dealing with some personal stuff. I will try to update my stories these past few weeks. I again used and tweaked lines from 4.22. I also deleted the part where Lane sounded like Jess's cheerleader, which completed contradicted that Lane did not like him in S3. I hate it when writers do stuff like that out of the blue. I would also like to thank my beta Natalie for making this chapter flow well.
Logan was pacing around in the parking lot, while he waited for Colin or Finn to come and pick him up. However, he was not really paying attention for them; one, he knew they would be late, and second, his entire mind was focused on Rory. He was so tempted to go back to check on her and punch Jess in the face. But he kept stopping himself for he knew that Rory would be smart enough to send Jess packing. He knew she wouldn't get back with Jess, but he hated the way Jess tended to make her feel so small and unhappy.
So he kept checking his watch every second because he was determined to wait 30 minutes before he would call her, and by now only 15 long minutes had passed. He didn't know how he could survive 15 more minutes. He tried to justify to himself that if he called her now he would appear like a stalker.
Screw it, he then thought, when he saw the minute hand reach 16 minutes. He got out his cell phone and pressed the name "Ace" on his contact list. He was grateful that she was the first name on his contact list so he never had to scroll through the almost endless list of names saved in his phone.
He was relieved to hear a familiar voice utter his name after two rings. "Logan."
"Hey Ace" Logan tried to make his tone sound as casual as possible. "You okay?"
"I'm fine, Logan." She sighed. "I mean, seeing him was not something I was looking forward to..." She paused a moment, contemplating if she really should tell him what Jess had asked her. But then she decided that it would be best to be honest with him. She sighed. "He asked me to run away with him."
"What?"
"Yeah... apparently he knows me well enough for me to give up Yale and all family relations to run off with him" Rory sarcastically stated.
"Where would you crazy kids run off to?" Logan asked in jest when he really couldn't believe that Jess could suggest something so idiotic to Rory. Did he not know her at all?
"I don't know Logan. I was able to stop him and to tell him that I wasn't that type of girl and that I didn't love him. That appeared to get him to stop talking crazy and I told him that he should get his life together. He seemed to understand and it was actually good closure. I think I should have told him that I wasn't in love with him anymore a long time ago. I might have been spared him calling on prom night and him saying it last spring." Rory rambled and suddenly she remembered that he didn't know about last spring; she was ashamed at herself for saying too much.
"You saw him last spring?" Logan didn't know why that made him uncomfortable. Rory was over Jess. He guessed he hated being so far apart to protect her from people like Jess.
"Yeah, he came to Stars Hollow to retrieve the car Luke hid from him and he kept running from me every time we would be in contact. Finally for some reason, I tried to get his attention and asked if he needed to say anything, and he told me he loved me and ran away faster than the road runner. I wasn't going to tell him I loved him back, of course, but I really hated it. Anyway, I think this time he won't do these types of stunts anymore. I'm sorry I didn't mention this before, I just didn't really believe it was that important." Plus a part of Rory was not sure of how much of her personal life did Logan have a right to know about.
"It's okay. I'm just glad it seems he won't be bothering you. I just really don't like him." Logan honestly answered.
"Well, he didn't treat me well at times, but he's not a bad person." Rory reasoned. After all she didn't have any ill will towards him anymore.
"That maybe true, but I consider you a catch, Rory, and you really deserve someone who treats you that way." Like me, Logan wanted to say, but that he had to say in person.
"That's really sweet of you, Logan." She hoped her tone didn't sound too gleeful. She really did not want Logan to know about how she would feel giddy or turn into a pile of mush whenever he would say something nice about her.
Logan loved that she sounded happy. He hoped that she would let him always make her happy. He decided to change the topic. "So, Ace, what time will we meet tomorrow?" He really prayed for no interruptions so he could lay everything out on the table.
Rory suddenly remembered that Logan was going to tell her something important before Jess had so rudely interrupted them. However, as much as she wanted to see Logan she felt like she needed some time apart from him. She just didn't know how she would be able to keep her cool in front of the guy she was in love with. "Logan, I'd love to meet with you tomorrow. But I've already plans with my mom to help her getting ready for the Inn test run next week." She stopped for a moment to think about her next words. "Why don't we meet at my house during the day of the test run around seven? Mom will be at the Inn and so will most of the town... it will give us plenty of time to talk." Plus Rory thought a week would give her time to reflect and to try and bury her feelings.
Logan reluctantly accepted her offer, but had no other choice anyway. The last thing he wanted to do was pressure her. Then again Logan really detested that he had to wait so long but on the other hand was glad that the next week would give him some time to prepare what he would say to Rory.
A week had passed since Logan had come back from his sailing trip. Rory tried her best to keep herself busy, because if she wasn't, she would catch herself at daydreaming about kissing Logan. And sometimes Rory's daydreams tended to go further than kissing, which was weird since she'd never had so many sex dreams about her other boyfriends and Logan had never been her boyfriend. At times like this she wished she was still sixteen; at least things with Dean had really been simple.
Rory tried to put her boy problems at bay as she and Lane were playing video games in Lane's new apartment.
"Where'd he go?" Rory asked about her video game creature that had suddenly disappeared.
"I don't know" Lane answered equally confused.
"What did I do?" Rory asked curiously.
"I don't know!" Lane stated exasperatedly. She'd been playing this game for over 20 minutes, and had observed Zach and Brian playing the game a million times and still did not know the rules of it.
"Did I lose?"
"Well, you have no head, so probably."
"So this is what teenage boys are doing instead of watching television?" Rory stated shaking her head unbelieving.
"Apparently." Lane said as she moved away from the TV screen.
"Seems like a lateral move" Rory sarcastically remarked.
"Hey, you hungry?" Lane asked, eager to change activities.
"I'm starving."
"Well, your timing is perfect, 'cause I went to the store yesterday." Lane started pulling up the floorboards and got out chips, crackers, and dip.
"Are you kidding me? You just got away from the floorboard life!" Rory exclaimed in amazement.
"Boys will eat everything. I bought vanilla-almond body lotion the other day"
"No!" Rory was amazed. "Even Logan, Colin, and Finn aren't that immature."
After Lane gave Rory the food she asked: "Speaking of the devil, what happened after you and Logan kissed on Saturday?" Anxious to get back to the story Rory continued to tell her best friend the story she'd started when she first got to her apartment.
Rory shrugged. "Nothing, we agreed it was a 'familiar accident'."
"Rory, come on, I know you have feelings for him."
"I do, but things with him are so complicated, Lane." Rory sounded exasperated. "So we decided to continue being friends." Rory said to hopefully finalize the conversation.
"Rory, I have a feeling a lot more happened that night"
Rory sighed. Her best friend knew her too well. "Yeah, well, it did." She took a breath to start speaking when Lane stopped her.
"Wait," Lane pulled out a chip and placed her body into a listening position, "Go!"
Rory laughed at Lane's antics. "Anyway, Logan did not talk about it when we hang out with everyone at the pub. We both went back to my dorm, and somehow we seemed to have an almost kiss moment…."
"Really!" Lane squealed.
"Lane, hold your breath" Rory lifted her left hand to stop Lane in her excitement. "I asked him why he kept doing this to me and then, out of the blue, there was Jess, who apparently had decided to pay me a visit."
"You've been here for 20 minutes, and you drop this now?" Lane nearly screamed in a mixture of disbelieve and excitement.
"Yeah," Rory shrugged as if it was nothing. "He just showed up at my dorm on Saturday night."
"Why? What did he say?" Lane asked curiously.
"He wanted me to come away with him."
"Oh, my God! What did you say?" Rory's love life was better than any soap.
"I said no, of course, and then I told him I was in love with Logan. It was so weird." Rory really wished the conversation would be over now, because she was feeling the same pain and confusion again, when all she wanted to do was forget everything.
"Rory, that's great" Lane said softly as if she sensed Rory's discomfort. "It's about time you admit your feelings for him." She'd never understood why Rory was so in denial about Logan.
"Lane, it is not great; it's completely awful!" Rory exclaimed frustrated.
"It doesn't sound awful to me. I mean, why is it awful?" Lane didn't know him really but Logan seemed to be good looking, smart and really care about Rory.
"What are you talking about? Logan is not a commitment guy, he's dated a million girls at one time. And when he went on that boat, he went back to his old ways. He probably never gave me any thought." Rory shuddered at that thought.
"Rory, he still wrote to you. Plus I think he was going to tell you how he felt before Jess so rudely interrupted you guys." Lane had watched many T.V shows and movies to know that people would always try to declare their feelings before they would get interrupted.
"Lane, he was probably going to apologize and say we're 'friends again'." Rory sighed. "Look, even if Logan wanted to be my boyfriend, I am not sure if I would be able to trust him. I mean, things were so much simpler with Dean back then."
"If you are thinking about getting back together with Dean, I have to disappoint you because he's married, you remember?" Lane said ironically.
"No, I just miss the feeling, you know, when I was with Dean, I always knew that no matter what happened, he would be there."
"Dean was very dependable." Lane remarked.
"It was more than that. He's - well, he was so... um, I was safe, and he was so nice to me."
"He really loved you. However, you know, Logan has been really good to you, too."
"I know... Logan has been great as a friend and as a one-week relationship" Rory relented and couldn't help but smile at the memory of this week. "I just don't know if I trust him as a relationship guy."
"I see your point" Lane said, "but I really do want to see you happy and I think Logan can make you happy. I hope you don't blow it by past nostalgia."
"Don't worry about it." Rory smiled at her best friend. "I'm just going to worry about my mom's test run tonight…"
Little did she know that it would be a very interesting night.
